Laxen column: Creativity key for meat markets

Butcher Donald Manea's first attempt at making ghost pepper-seasoned pork chops resulted in his staff evacuating the testing area.

"People were crying with their eyes burning," said Manea, who runs Manea's Meats in Sauk Rapids. "You realize how strong some of these spices are."

Manea eventually mastered his recipe.

Trial and error has become a key component for local meat markets. Specialty items are a necessity to stay in business.

And because of modern machinery, meat markets are able to experiment more often.

"Twenty years ago, they wanted meat, potatoes, some garlic spice and that was about it," said Manea, who sells eight different types of bacon. "Now there are so many different seasonings and flavors. You have to mix things that sound good and keep tweaking until you get it right."

McDonald's Meats of Clear Lake had 31 bratwurst flavors for its seventh annual Brat Fest promotion at the end of April. It also had 24 types of jerky.

In addition to more conventional flavors, the store featured bratwursts with pineapple, Philly cheese, pizza, tomato basil and salsa flavors.

The St. Joseph Meat Market also features a unique bratwurst selection. They have sloppy Joe, funeral hotdish, gummy bear and chicken Alfredo flavors.